Bristol Green Councillors condemn airport expansion plans as ‘tone-deaf and reckless’

Bristol Green councillors have condemned Bristol Airport’s plans for more expansion as ‘tone-deaf and reckless’ after they submitted a strongly worded response to the airport’s latest consultation.

The airport wants to increase its capacity for passengers from 10.5 million to 15 million a year in plans that would expose residents to severe noise, road congestion and pollution, all at a time of worsening climate crisis.

The new plans come hot on the heels of the airport’s previous plans in 2023 to increase capacity to 12 million passengers per annum by 2027, which were overwhelmingly opposed by 80% of local people. In 2020, Bristol City Council passed a Green-tabled motion committing the council to oppose any expansion of the airport. [1]

The airport’s new plans would:

• Create over 14,000 extra flights a year, producing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of additional carbon and other greenhouse emissions.
• Increase night flights by 1000 a year – a hike of 25%. The airport is already breaching its current limits on night flights as it is.  (Numerous studies have shown that night flights damage the health of those living near airports [2])

• Put more private vehicles on the road through increased passenger numbers, expanding the A38 and creating more airport parking (the main income generator for the airport)
• Build on 33 hectares of more green belt land, potentially negatively affecting wildlife and natural landscape.

Leader of the Green Group Cllr Emma Edwards said: “In the teeth of a worsening climate emergency, it’s frankly staggering that Bristol Airport is yet again planning to expand. The last thing our city and the region needs is yet more carbon emissions from flights, more traffic congestion, more noise, and worsening air quality. We condemn these plans in the strongest possible terms.”

Bristol Central Green M.P Carla Denyer has also objected to the expansion plans.

Despite the airport’s claims, Green councillors point out that expansion is unlikely to create many new jobs. There are no more jobs now at airports than there were 20 years ago. Analysis from the New Economics Foundation shows the boom in air travel since 2015 has failed to increase UK productivity or GDP growth, while business use of air travel – a key argument for expansion – has declined by 50% since 2013.[3]

In addition, only 13% of passengers are tourists coming to Bristol so any increase in Bristol Airport’s capacity is likely to mean more money going out of the local area rather than coming in.

As Bristol Airport is currently owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund, any increased income from the airport would be likely to go to the fund rather than benefitting local people.

The Bristol Green Group is calling for the following:

• A cumulative impact assessment of airport expansions nationally

• A three-year moratorium on the expansion of airport capacity
• The updating of the Airports National Policy in line with net zero targets.

Notes for editors:  

• Image attached of Bristol Green Councillors and MP Carla Denyer outside Bristol City Hall
• You can read the Green Group’s full response to the consultation here – https://bristolgreenparty.org.uk//wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Green-Group-Bristol-Airport-Masterplan-Consultation-Response.pdf
• Bristol Airport’s plans come at a time when the Government is heavily promoting airport expansion nationally despite it being contrary to advice from the Government’s Climate Change Committee.
• Research from the New Economics Foundation has made it very clear that the Government’s plans for airport expansion would wipe out the entirety of its nationwide benefits from its Clean Power Plan in terms of carbon reduction.
• The wealthiest 1% of the world’s population emits 50% of all emissions from commercial aviation. [4]

References 

1. Council passes Green motion against airport expansion – Bristol Green Party
2. Constantin-Cristian Topriceanu, Xiangpu Gong, et al “Higher Aircraft Noise Exposure is Linked to Worse Heart Structure and Function by Cardiovascular MRI” the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Exposure to aircraft noise linked to worse heart function | UCL News – UCL – University College London
3. Losing altitude | New Economics Foundation
4. The global scale, distribution and growth of aviation: Implications for climate change – ScienceDirect